Cervical Spine Disorders
A 72-year-old female presents with progressive inability to hold her head upright over 6 months. She reports difficulty with horizontal gaze and swallowing. On examination, she has severe chin-on-chest deformity that is passively correctable. Limb strength is normal. MRI shows fatty infiltration of the posterior cervical paraspinal muscles. Regarding dropped head syndrome (DHS):
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Dropped head syndrome (DHS) is characterized by severe weakness of neck extensors with chin-on-chest...
Isolated neck extensor myopathy (INEM) is a non-inflammatory myopathy affecting primarily the parasp...
The deformity in dropped head syndrome is always rigid and fixed; horizontal gaze is maintained beca...
Key differential diagnoses include Parkinson disease (camptocormia), myasthenia gravis (fatigable we...
Initial treatment for INEM includes cervical orthosis to support the head and physiotherapy; if no i...
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Click T (True) or F (False) for each option